This invention relates generally to adjustable anchor or tapping plate mechanisms and more particularly to a floating tapping plate and retention bracket assembly for threadably securing a bolt to a frame structure such as a vehicle body door pillar.
One example of a prior art floating tapping plate assembly is disclosed in the U.S. Pat. No. 4,432,575 issued Feb. 21, 1984 to Garvey et al. entitled Lock Striker Anchor Plate Assembly. In the Garvey patent, the adjustable lock striker bolt assembly for a vehicle door lock pillar includes an anchor plate which is manually snap assembled to a retention bracket by an operator without tools and with limited access to the inside of the lock pillar.
With reference to prior art FIG. 1A of the drawings, there is shown a vehicle door lock pillar 10' having a pair of threaded and shouldered striker bolts 12'. The lower removed striker bolt is shown positioned to initially pass through pillar rectangular oversize aperture 13'. Prior art FIG. 1B shows the interior surface of the pillar 10' having a tapping plate and retention bracket assembly, generally indicated at 14', mounted thereon. The assembly 14' comprises a tapping plate 16' supported in a floating or adjustable manner on an underlying retention bracket 18'. In FIG. 1C, the tapping plate 16' is shown positioned with its longitudinally extending axis of symmetry "A" coaxial with longitudinal axis of symmetry "B" of the retention bracket 18'. It will be noted that the tapping plate 16' has a pair of extruded conical socket portions raised above the tapping plate surface defining internally threaded passages or bores 19' symmetrically aligned on its axis "A".
Prior art FIG. 1C shows the retention bracket 18' comprising a rectangular shaped planar portion 20' defined by a pair of longitudinal side flanges 22' and a pair of transverse end flanges 24' projecting normally therefrom. The bracket 18' is provided with a pair of mirror image U-shaped bendable stirrups 26' projecting normally from the bracket's one exterior surface defining opposed laterally spaced through slots 28' shown in FIG. 1B. As best seen in FIG. 1C, the stirrups 26' are pierced or lanced-out from the bracket planar portion 20' thereby forming a pair of generally rectangular shaped openings 30' therein.
The tapping plate 16' comprises a base 17' generally rectangular in plan having its longitudinal edges 32' provided with a pair of oppositely projecting transversely extending tongues 34'. FIG. 1C shows each tongue 34' defined by a pair of matching cutouts 36' formed in each tapping plate side edge 32' such that each tongue free edge 38' is aligned with its associated side edge 32'. The U-shaped stirrups 26' are transversely spaced a distance "D" apart which is a predetermined dimension less than the width "W" of the tapping plate.
The tapping plate and retention bracket assembly 14' is fabricated by centering the tapping plate 16' on the bracket interior planar portion 20', as shown in FIG. 1C, with the bendable stirrups 26' being initially located in the plane of the bracket planar portion 20'. Thus, upon the stirrups 26' being bent at right angles from the plane of portion 18', each of their stirrups 26' are sized to be bent over and receive their associated tapping plate tongues 34' therethrough. In this manner the tapping plate 16' is loosely retained or captured on the bracket 18' with its pair of threaded passages 19' aligned on bracket axis "B" so as to be concentrically disposed relative to a pair of enlarged clearance holes 40' in the bracket 18', as viewed in FIG. 1D.
As seen in FIGS. 1A and 1D, the pair of vertically spaced clearance circular apertures 40', extending through bracket 18', are located generally on center with an associated one of a pair of vertically spaced oversized square apertures 13' provided in the body pillar 10'. The tapping plate 16' is slidably adjusted enabling each striker bolt 12 to pass through its associated pillar oversize aperture 13' and bracket clearance aperture 40' and thereafter threaded into a respective aligned tapping plate bore 19'. As a result, torquing the bolts 12 clamps the bracket portion 20' between the tapping plate 16 and the opposed surface of the body pillar 10'. To permit accurate alignment of the tapping plate threaded bores 19' with their associated bracket clearance apertures 40', it is necessary that the tapping plate 16' float laterally providing a limited range of both vertical and horizontal movement in addition to allowing inward and outward axial play. Thus, the tapping plate 16' is adapted to adjust to accommodate location of the striker bolts 12' by virtue of the bolts clamping the tapping plate in place when tightened. Because of the manner in which automobile bodies are constructed, the tapping plate, at the time when the door is hung, is only accessible through the pillar oversized apertures 13' disregarding certain vehicle body structure interior hand access passages (not shown).